what is the research of anthropologist Steve Lansing into the Austronesian expansion in history?

Testing Models of Genetic, Linguistic, and Cultural Change

Interdisciplinary research beginning in the 1980's demonstrated large-scale associations between human genetic and language phylogenies. Ever since, researchers have observed varying statistical associations between genes, language families, and geography at continental or sub-continental scales. Most studies of genetic and linguistic evolution and differentiation have focused on large-scale regional or continental patterns characterized from a phylogenetic perspective. Yet all such patterns must arise from processes that begin at the community level. We have an ongoing interdisciplinary project that involves anthropologists (Steve Lansing), linguists (Peter Norquest, Johanna Nichols), mathematicians (Joe Watkins, Brian Hallmark), and geneticists to study gene-language-culture co-evolution at various scales. Our approach is to gather information at the community level to address community based, island based and region based questions.

The Indonesian archipelago encompasses great cultural, genetic and linguistic diversity, from patrilocal wet-rice farmers in Java and Bali to matrilocal communities in the mountains of Flores, and hunter-gatherers in the forests of Borneo and West Papua. Taking advantage of this broad diversity, this project's research goal has been to build and test anthropological models to explain observed patterns of genetic and linguistic variation at the levels at which they originate. In collaboration with Indonesian researchers and public health teams, we collected genetic, medical, environmental and ethnographic data from 69 villages on 13 Indonesian islands, as well as word lists and phonological samples from nearly a thousand languages. All of these data, as well as data on the prevalence of six diseases, is now assembled in or linked to a geographic information system. A combination of modeling and inferential approaches has been developed to investigate the processes under study. A number of publications resulted on the origins and demographic history of Indonesian populations, and the social factors that shape patterns of genetic variation at the community scale.

During the course of this research we made a striking observation concerning a dramatic shift in ancestry proportions in eastern Indonesia. We assembled a set of 37 SNPs that are unlinked, selectively neutral, and highly informative for Asian-Melanesian ancestry, and genotyped them in 1,430 individuals from 60 populations spanning mainland Asia to Melanesia. Admixture analysis revealed an extremely sharp transition from Asian to Melanesian ancestry over a narrow geographical region in eastern Indonesia. A higher frequency of Asian X-linked markers relative to autosomal markers throughout the transition zone suggests that Asian women contributed more than Asian men during this admixture process(es). Matrilocal marriage practices that dominated early Austronesian societies may be one factor contributing to this observed sex bias in admixture rates. We are currently collecting genome-wide polymorphism data to estimate the age of the admixture cline and to test a number of hypotheses about the demographic and selective processes that have influenced variation in this region.

A parallel project has been initiated to examine patterns of genetic diversity at a fine geographic scale in the Caucasus Mountains. Specifically, this project will gather genome-wide polymorphism data from 17 lowland and highland populations representing different language families in Daghetan. The 30 ethnolinguistic highland groups that speak Nakh-Daghestan (ND) languages show a high degree of genetic differentiation given their geographic proximity. This structure is mirrored in their languages: the ND languages fall into several deeply divergent branches and the entire family is exceedingly old and endemic to the eastern Caucasus. Moreover, the Caucasus is the site of one of the earliest expansions of Neolithic farmers. From the Mesolithic to historical times there is no archaeological or linguistic evidence pointing to subsequent major migrations into the highlands. Thus, the great age and diversification of its populations may well reflect a long-term entrenchment after an initial colonization of a Mesolithic population. In contrast, nearby lowland populations have a history of contact with a variety of populations speaking non-ND languages. The resulting diversity provides a unique opportunity to investigate comparative histories, highlighting the interactive processes that produce a variety of types of genetic and linguistic differentiation.

http://hammerlab.biosci.arizona.edu/research.html

Austronesian Expansion: Social, Linguistic, Genetic Networks with Steve Lansing..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7MgiNAbWg4

Haplogroup S (M230) Negrito

Haplogroup M (P256) Negrito